Belgian aristocrat Emmanuel de Merode recovering from surgery after being
ambushed driving to Virunga park headquarters in eastern Congo

The aristocratic Belgian director of Africa's oldest nature reserve, the setting for the film Gorillas in the Mist, was recovering from surgery to remove bullets from his chest on Wednesday after he was shot by unknown gunmen.

Emmanuel de Merode, a prince in his native Belgium, was driving alone when attackers opened fire on his vehicle between Goma, war-torn eastern Congo's main city, and the Virunga National Park headquarters an hour to the north.

The reserve is home to roughly a quarter of the world's 880 remaining critically endangered mountain gorillas. Dian Fossey, the naturalist played by Sigourney Weaver in the 1988 film, worked there.

Several bullets were removed from Mr de Merode's chest during an operation in Goma following the ambush, late on Tuesday afternoon.

"He's stable now and doing much better than he was yesterday," said Joanna Natasegara, spokesman for the Virunga National Park, which was founded in 1925, making it Africa's first wildlife reserve. "There were two or three bullets that were taken out, so obviously we're still very worried. But he's being his usual strong self."

No-one has claimed responsibility, but Mr de Merode, 43, the son-in-law of Richard Leakey, the Kenyan conservationist, has made enemies of armed militia and poachers during his six-year tenure managing Virunga.

Besides gorillas, hundreds of gunmen from the region's many rebel groups have hidden in the reserve, which covers 3,000 square miles of virgin rainforest along Congo's volatile eastern border with Rwanda and Uganda.

Charcoal poachers have caused significant damage to parts of the park's tree-cover. They were blamed for the slaughter of two silverback gorillas in 2007. Charcoal is in huge demand for cooking in the region's expanding cities.

Mr de Merode, who has two young daughters with Mr Leakey's daughter Louise, has dedicated his time as Virunga's director to boosting the reach and professionalism of the reserve's rangers, so they can better fight back.

Being a ranger in the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN) is one of the most dangerous jobs in international conservation. More than 160 have been killed at work since 1996.

WWF, the conservation charity, is currently campaigning to halt oil exploration in parts of the reserve by a British company, Soco International.